A sheep in wolf's clothing

Month: October 2011

Being Indian, Halloween isn’t a festival that is celebrate here and not a lot of people even know about it. However, having grown up in Kuwait & India watching a lot of American & Canadian movies & tv shows, ofcourse I knew from a very young age what it was all about. And the part of getting free candy, walking around with your friends dressed in fancy outfits – monsters or vampires or fairies or angels, witches, zombies, ghosts, celebrities etc -; come on – who doesn’t love the idea?

Ofcourse Indians could get scared of the people dressed in those outfits if they didn’t know about it. That would have been funny. Oh, I must mention that Halloween is getting a little popular in India but not on the scale that it should be. As of now, it is restricted to a few BPOs & MNCs especially those that deal with American or Canadian processes. British too! I’ve seen pics of events held in some of the other offices of the previous company that I worked with, which had offices in Indian cities like Bangalore, Mumbai with international processes and they celebrated a bit of it. But it’s not done by the general public.

My memories of the festival/holiday is restricted to some of my fav tv shows, sit coms or shows like Buffy which has featured Halloween prominently. And who can forget the Halloween movie franchise as well! But that’s not exactly about celebrating the holiday. Anyways for those who do celebrate this fun holiday, I hope you have a great time and gets lots of candy and eat nice food and plenty to drink. Be safe & enjoy!

I do not know what to say about the Ottawa Senators this season. After unloading a whole lot of players last season, including crowd favourites, and signing up mostly players who fans of other teams have never heard of, it was no wonder that most critics & experts picked the team to finis last in the league come the end of the 2011-12 season. Let’s face it – after top line trio Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza & Milan Michalek, who else did you expect to provide a steady stream of goals? So as I, like many other Sens fans I suppose, looked at a lot of star players being signed up by other teams and wondering when was it that my side was going to get 2 or 3 big name players, the Sens management signed 2nd & 3rd string players.

Doomed for this season? Playoff chances? Yes and None respectively were the answers that came up in my mind. So after the top 3 forwards our most known players are Chris Neil, defencemen Philip Kuba, Chris Philips & Sergie Gronchar. Two goalie who, let’s face it, are actually competent back goalies for any other team in Craig Anderson & Alex Auld. Not the stuff of champs! And when the season started it looked like exactly what it was – a solitary win in their first 6 games, which was a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild. 5 Loses to Detroit (3-5), Toronto (5-6), Colorado (1-7), Washington (1-2) & Philadelphia (2-7) were devastating but not unexpected. But then; things changed.

5 Wins in a row. 4-1 vs Winnipeg, 4-3 against Columbus, 3-2 against Carolina, 4-3 against Florida & a 5-4 win against New York Rangers. Admittedly things are tight as we are leaking goals and 4 of those games were won by a 1 goal margin. But we are also scoring goals. Spezza & Michalek have 7 goals each, Alfredsson with 4 and Colin Greening with 3. With 12 points after 11 games played, Ottawa should now crack the top 8 in the East and if they build on these wins, who knows what can happen this season. But it’s way too early to say as we have another 71 games to go. Go Sens Go!

Robin van Persie’s hat-trick inspired Arsenal to an incredible victory against Chelsea as their recovery gathered momentum in a Stamford Bridge thriller. The Gunners captain demonstrated his importance to the team by taking his tally to an outstanding 28 goals in 27 Premier League games as Chelsea slumped again after their shock defeat at QPR last week. And it was a miserable afternoon for Chelsea and England captain John Terry at the end of a week in which has he faced allegations of racial abuse against QPR’s Anton Ferdinand – claims he vehemently denies.

Santos & Theo Walcott had the other goals for Arsenal. Arsenal have been piecing their season back together after a poor start and the manner of this win will provide added reserves of confidence and self-belief. It still doesn’t look like we will get any silverware but the side is looking a lot more harder to beat and if we get a few big game players in key positions in January, hey who knows? I’d like to see an FA cup win atleast this year. Come on Gunners!

What should have been a great night for Metallica fans became a disaster for New Delhi and the people who came to watch one of their favourite bands in action. Over 25,000 people had gathered at the Leisure Valley Park in Gurgaon to watch the Metallica concert, the opener for the ‘F1 Rocks’ series of performances for the Formula 1 event. Finally the concerted was postponed to the next day, which is today, on the basis that Metallica refused to go on stage due to what was termed as bad

Here’s what happened, based on reports from fans who posted online – the organization was mismanaged and there was no way that a successful concert could be conducted there. Water at the fans at the venue was two small stalls – for 25000 people!! As soon as the announcement was made to postpone the concert to 4pm the next day, the crowd went crazy with people pushing each other, breaking the barricades, shouting and throwing water bottles. They stormed the stage setting the banners on fire, destroying equipment including the drum set that was setup on the stage and smashed the LED screens. This went on for an hour before the cops intervened.

Due to the damaged caused, the concert was later cancelled and now Delhi will not be getting a concert. Cancelled not postponed due to reasons which could have been avoided. Even if it was not possible to have the concert played on Friday even, a postponement of a day would have been ok for most fans but the crowd took even that out of the equation. So now, Bangalore will be the first city that sees Metallica play. Hope that Bangalore, used to seeing a few more concerts by international audiences, will make up for the sour taste in the aftermath of the chaos in Delhi. Bangalore fans, get geared up and make the band appreciate you.

Simon McBride is an Irish guitarist who I discovered online on Youtube. I found out about this bluesman while clicking on links for PRS guitars, which Simon endorses and often plays clinics for. That’s how I saw a few videos of his playing and then decided to watch some of his originals played live and finally got this album. While the inevitable comparisons to his late country Rory Gallagher aren’t unfounded, there’s also some Hendrix touches and some Stevie Ray Vaughn in his playing. Plus he’s also played a bit with fellow Irishman Vivian Campbell (former Whitesnake & Dio, current Def Leppard).

We start off with Down To The River, a good way to kick off things with some laid back blues-rock riffs. Lyrically its about making a woman change her mind and bringing her to you. Standing Still starts off with this delightfully melodic lick, and is an appreciation about nature and the beautiful things we have around us that we take for granted. Fat Pockets is more rockn’roll, and about who holds the more money. And then we have the hopeful romantic in SO Much Love To Give, basically a plea for someone who wants something new to come into his life. He has washed away the pain & skeletons in his clothes and is moving on with life.

Punching It Out is a out & out rock n blues number, with a searing guitar solo by Simon. The title track, Rich Man Falling, is up next; a good ole mid-tempo rocker with a solid guitar solo. A slide guitar riff goes well in Devil Woman, about the hot & sexy nothing but trouble woman that you can’t get enough of. We get a ballad in Be My Friend. It’s a song about needing a special someone in their life to get them through the bad times. Change has a riff that at the beginning reminds me a bit of GnR’s Bad Apple from Use Your Illusion. However it’s a playful and fun number, more foot tapping than the GnR track. Tell Me Why is more bluesy and meant for a long guitar jam when played live.

You Gotta Problem is confronting a girl’s issues in her life and telling her to pick up the pieces of her life and offering help. More bright & foot tapping is the next number – DC. It’s about missing home & singing it’s praises. And we get to the Hendrix cover Power Of Soul. Nothing groundbreaking or anything but McBride’s got a good voice and he plays great blues guitar. Check him out on Youtube. Below is a live rendition of Down To the River.

Like most people I love good surprises. The kind that makes you smile, laugh or shout out in happiness. Like winning a prize, an unexpected bonus, a party thrown for you by friends/colleagues, a little gift by a friend or loved one or anything like that. The good kind of surprise is always welcome, heck any thing good is good! When you didn’t expect a birthday party and you enter a room without any warning and people jump out from the dark or from their hiding places and yell out “SURPRISE” and you’ll love it. After, you know, you manage to push your heart from your throat back to your chest where it is supposed to be.

Bad surprised, unexpected and dangerous surprises is not one for me. That ex-who suddenly shows up and is now a senior manager in your office. Oh no! Guy makes friends with you and then you find out he is gay and looking for some action. Get outta town asshole! Any kind of rude, unwanted and malicious surprise is not warranted and I would say away from them if I could. Usually I am able to dodge them but these fucking things have a way of sneaking up on you. So give me the good pleasant & happy surprises and I’ll enjoy them.

Ohhh, I wish I could own a nice, trendy, huge restaurant that people will just love and want to come and be served wonderful food over and over again. I love the feeling of a sexy restaurant where people want to be seen but I don’t like food that takes too much time to be prepared and to be made in oh-so-certain ways and is served in small portions on plates that look like diapers and…pretentious food, you know. Food that makes you feel as if you are not god enough to eat it or something.

I like the feel of clubs and so I would like to recreate that kind of a feeling. I’d want big open, airy look to the place, with plenty of space between tables so those of you who come in with your friends or family can talk without the fear that the people in the next table will hear you. You wanna have some fun, gossip, talk dirty jokes if you want to and enjoy your food and drinks while you do that, so there should be enough space. Big tables that seat atleast 6 people and some large tables so that a bigger group of people can dine on it. Heck let me throw in some private and semi-private rooms so you can have parties over there. So 3 large floors and a roof-top deck as well.

Now the food – from appetizers/hor’dourves, garlic bread and stuff, everything will be finger licking good. I’d serve Chinese, American, French, Japanese, Indian (ofcourse), Thai, German, Arabian – you name, I’ll have it. Great food that my many chefs who specialize in the style of food will cook up for you. Burgers, pasta, fried rice, pizzas, tandoori, grilled, tikka style, spicy curries, sushi – everything. You won’t want to leave. In fact you will eat so much and you will be stuff, so I better keep plenty of toilets in the place. And then you come back, refreshed and eat some more!

Now for drinks – wine, some vodka, rum, brandy, whiskey, beer! Cocktails that will amaze you and for those who don’t drink alcohol, juices and stuff. Soft drinks if you so please. Pairings will be suggested for each dish that you order. We will have live music on certain days. And then finally desert – from various cakes & pastries to ice cream specialties that we create right at the restaurant. This is the place that you wanna be and that you wanna eat & drink at. Come again and bring your friends.

I don’t think that the name is that important but at the top of my head I’d go with Castle Roshan. Enjoy!

Let’s start with the first of this series, 1948’s Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. Although the movie should have been named Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Werewolf & Count Dracula. Lon Chaney, Jr (the Wolfman), Glenn Strange (Frankenstien’s monster) & the illustrious Bela Lugosi (Count Dracula). Costello & Abbott are two baggage clerks who have to deliver the coffins of Dracula & Frankenstein to the House Of Horrors. Costello gets scared by Dracula, in a long hilarious scene. Also his simple minded brain is what Dr. Sandra Mornay covets to replace the one in Frankenstein. So she pretends to fall for him and they become a couple. Another good looking dame Joan, who is an insurance investigator, also pretends to fall for the “charms” of Costello.

Dracula and Sandra try to get Costello for the surgery but are thwarted by the combined efforts of the Wolfman, Prof Stevens, who is an assistant to Dr. Sandra but doesn’t share her’s & Dracula’s sinister plots, Joan and our beloved duo. Dracula is killed, presumably, when the Wolfman grabs onto him as he jumps out a window. Sandra is killed as she is thrown from a considerable height by The Wolfman. We get plenty of routine skits by Abbott & Costello, all which sound as hilarious as they did all those years ago. During filming, Glenn Strange found Costello so funny he would often break up laughing, necessitating many retakes (this is readily apparent in the scene where Costello sits on the Monster’s lap). This is definitely my favourite movie of A&C.

In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, and in September 2007, Readers Digest selected the movie as one of the top 100 funniest films of all time. The 1948 film is recognized by historians as the definitive end point to the American golden age of the monster mash and the classic Universal monster cycle.

Next we got Abbott & Costello Meet The Invisible Man. Arthur Franz co-stars as Tommy Nelson, a champion middleweight boxer who injects himself with a serum that makes him invisible. Tommy recently escaped from jail, after being accused of murdering his manager, and asks a rookie investigation agency consisting of Abbott & Costello to help him clear his name. Also helping hem is Tommy’s fiance Helen (the lovely Nancy Guild). The bumbling detectives have to help Tommy solve the case and also uncover a gambling ring where boxers are asked to ‘throw’ a match for more money. Lou also has to pretend to be a boxer, with the invisible Tommy helping him in the ring and fight Rocky Hanlon.

The scene in the hotel where Lou, Bud & the invisible Tommy are eating dinner and drinking is really funny. It is uncovered that the boxing promoter is the one behind the murder of Tommy’s manager and the cops are led to the boxing match as well. Morgan plans Bud’s murder which is thwarted by Tommy, who unfortunately is wounded in the battle. The protagonists rush to the hospital where a blood transfusion is arranged between Lou and Tommy. During the transfusion, Tommy becomes visible again. Unfortunately, some of Tommy’s blood has apparently entered Lou,who briefly turns invisible, only to reappear with his legs on backwards.

This movie came out in 1951 and is a modified remake of the 1940 film The Invisible Man Returns.

The next one, Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, is not one that I particularly enjoyed. It felt that A&C were reduced to more of a supporting cast and just there for comic relief. It wasn’t their best work and felt forced. First of all Bud & Lou are American cops in London, trying to control a woman’s lib meeting & speech in Hyde Park that turns into a huge fight. Newspaper reporter Bruce Adams and the meeting’s instigator Vicky Edwards are arrested and Bud & Lou are kicked off the force for getting themselves dragged into the altercation. Vicky’s guardian Dr. Jeckyll (the great Boris Karloff) has them released on bail. Dr. Jeckyll ofcourse is behind the recent killings in the Hyde Park area, transformed into a hideous monster while conducting strange experiments on himself. Meanwhile Vicky & Bruce fall in love with each other.

Costello actually captures the monster, by pure luck, in a cell at the museum but by the time he gets the cops & Abbott, Hyde has transformed back to Dr. Jeckyll. At the doctor’s house Costello drinks a potion, thinking it to be water, and turns into a large mouse, which leads to a funny scene at a local bar. Vicky announces her engagement to Bruce and Mr. Hyde reemerges, this time with intent to murder Vicky as he actually loves his ward romantically. In the fight that follows, Costello also gets injected with the serum that turns him into a monster like Jeckyll. So as Bruce and some cops chase Mr. Hyde, Bud chases after Costello thinking that he is the monster. Bruce ends up back at Jekyll’s home, where Hyde falls from an upstairs window to his death, revealing to everyone his true identity when he reverts to normal form. Slim then brings Tubby (still in monster form) to the Inspector. Before reverting to human form, Tubby bites the Inspector and four officers, transforming them into monsters who begin to chase Abbott & Costello.

I didn’t agree with this movie and it’s only funny in places. Not a bad film really but not a good showcase of Abbott & Costello type humour.

So we come to the fourth and final installment of A&C movies featuring Universal’s famour horror characters, Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy. It’s also the 28th and final Universal film; they would go on to make on more movie, their 36th together. Anyways, Aboot & Costello are two stranded men in Cairo and they overhear Dr. Gustav talking about the Mummy Klaris and his plans to take the mummy to the US. Hoping to hitch a ride home, the two go to the professor’s house to volunteer their services. However, two men who the followers of Klaris, kill the professor and unfortunately our comedic duo stumble upon the dead body in the house. They find a medallion, which actually shows the location of a treasure, and try to sell it.

Madame Rontru, a business woman interested in stealing the treasure of Princess Ara offers to buy the medallion from them but somehow the medallion ends up in Costello’s burger and he eats the medallion! Semu, the leader of Klaris’s followers also follows them and offers his services to read the inscription on the medallion. Rontru & her men lead Semu, A&C to the tomb but then Rontru has Semu tied up. A&C find their way into the tomb and see that the Mummy Klaris is alive! One of Rontru’s men, Charlie (played by a young Michael Ansara) disguises himself as the Mummy and so does Abbott! Now we have 3 mummies running around and getting buried in the sand. Eventually all three mummies are in the same place at the same time, and the dynamite that Rontru intends to use to dig up the treasure detonates, killing Klaris and revealing the treasure. Freddie and Pete convince Semu to turn the temple into a nightclub to preserve the legend of Klaris. But Abbott & Costello convince Semu & his followers to keep Klaris’s memories alive by turning the tomb & temple into a nightclub to preserve the legend.

Meet The Mummy is funnier than Dr.Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. My favs in order are Frankenstein, The Invicible Man, The Mummy & Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. Watch out for more reviews of Abbott & Costello movies in my blog.

Hollywood has legendary & world famous black & white era comedy acts like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy. None of them hold a candle, for me atleast, to Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. I first saw this duo in a few movies that my cousins had tapped in the UK & showed them to me after they settled back in India (I must have been 12 or 13 when I was introduced to the duo). I was floored by the antics of the two – straight man Abbott and the classic comedic Costello. They were from an era where comedy was quite innocent and slapstick was king and I get a nostalgic rush when I recently started watching some of their movies. In all the duo made 36 movies together of which I had previously seen 5. In certain years they made multiple movies; they had 4 movies come out in both 1941 and 1942.

Although I hadn’t seen any of their movies since, I dunno, 1992-93, I really wanted to get some of their stuff and I saw torrents for all their movies online. I just had to download them and started with my favourites, obviously the 5 that I had already seen & loved. It had been so many years but I found that I remembered some of the dialogues and scenes but was laughing harder than ever at the silly stuff. Ok, so I’m going to blog about the movies but I’m not going to do them in chronological order. Rather I thought I’d do sections – the first would be the 4 movies that saw them appear with classic horror characters from Universal’s movie franchises. So here goes the first section of 4 movies.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again and I’ll keep saying it till I die. We need to get rid of all the different religions and superstition stuff out there that is holding the human race back. Look at all the stuff that we have been through because the Muslims, the Christians, The Jews, the Hindus and the rest don’t see eye to eye. Divisions like religious beliefs, race, colour, creed and nationality is causing us more problems that you can throw a shoe at. I mean when it comes down to crunch situations, there are lots of people who would choose rituals & beliefs over another human being’s life. Or a group of human beings.

Spirituality is good and all that, having some cultural practices is cool but we need to get it though out thick skulls; there were many, many great religions in this world that worshiped 1000s of gods. They all fucking died out. What makes you think that Jesus, Allah & Krishna don’t come with an expiry date? They won’t last; at best they will be around for a few 100 years more or so. And then we are left with us ordinary humans but who knows we’ll probably make up a few much more dangerous religions perhaps and blow ourselves up!

So let’s change people. We are all the same. We are one, let’s not differentiate ourselves by religions, castes, colour, creed or nationality. We are humans first, everything else is just labels that change. We should be exploring the universe, building spaceships that take us to the various planets and star systems and galaxies. The universe is infinite and we need to be out there. The other aliens are laughing at us. Hell the bad aliens don’t need to attack us, we’re doing it for them!! Let’s change, embrace your humanity and let’s progress and boldly go where no man ha gone before. Let’s abolish hunger, thirst, pain, greed, money, disease, poverty & strife!

I can’t do it alone. Join me or join us, cause there are others like me.

Long periods of total silence makes me nervous. I like peace and quite but when things are too quite it just is creepy.

Thunder & lightning makes me nervous. Ever since I heard the story of my aunt & cousin having to run as their rented house was hit by lightning and part of the walls collapsed around them one night many years ago, everyone in my extended family are a bit scared of lightning. Especially my mom. I’m nervous about it too.

When my parents are gone for long hours and are late in coming back home. Especially as they both ages, mom is 62 and dad is 72. I worry about them being outside and in trouble.

When things go wrong one after the other, I get nervous. Things start looking gloomy. Also when too many things go well, I get nervous as to when is the axe about to fall on us. I’ve never been very lucky in my life and so I know that more good news is always followed by some bad news.

I do a daily check on Wikipedia’s Recent Death’s link. I started doing this frequently and then daily from mid 2009 onwards when it seemed that lots of famous people were dying. Unfortunately that has continued onto 2011 and I always check to see if someone I like/admire/know is on the list. But on the 23rd, yesterday, they made a slight mistake in noting the death of Henk Pleket twice in the same date.

Arsenal have had a terrible start to the new season. After 9 games played we stand at the 7th spot on the table with 13 points and a -3 goal difference. How did this happen? Well, I’ve rambled on about it a couple of times already so not gonna get too much into it. The form has picked up in the recent weeks but I am still skeptical about where we will end up on the table at the end of the season and you know what? 6th or 7th place is not an unrealistic position! Yeah, sacrilege indeed. But that’s the way our squad has been dealt and I’m looking at Arsene Wenger to start changing things around come the mid-season transfer window.

But how did we climb to 7th place? We did it RVP style and that worries me. First the result and I’ll tell you why that worried me later. Robin van Persie came off the bench to inspire Arsenal to a fourth straight Premier League win at home as the Gunners beat Stoke City 3-1 today. Gervinho had seen his clinical first-half strike from Aaron Ramsey’s pass cancelled out by a close-range goal from former Spurs striker Peter Crouch. But Van Persie swooped just six minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute to convert Gervinho’s cross. The Dutchman added a third goal when he diverted a shot past Asmir Begovic after another Gervinho pass.

Now here is the troubling part – without RVP we are an average side!!! And he has had a history of injuries! RVP is doing his part whenever he is fit and on the field but we need more international class players like him to challenge for silverware. Did Wenger really think he was going to win the league or in Europe with the squad he has currently? No way. Good job turning things around boys but we need more. Mid season. Transfer. Window. Spend!

Some of you my dear readers who are not from this part of the world might enjoy watching this. Curious about my city & state and the food we eat here? Anthony Bourdain came to visit this part of India on his tv show No Reservations a couple of years ago. Most of it was in Cochin, a village an hour or so outside of Cochin and then the backwaters of Kerala. Watch and your mouth will water!

Once in a while you get a good retro film from Hollywood. Take Me Home Tonight is a good movie to watch, nothing taxing on the brain and something you can watch on a late Sunday afternoon or Saturday night. However I must say that the trailer was more exciting than the actual movie. Now despite the fact that the movie title is derived from the 1986 Eddie Money hit single, the song does not feature anywhere in the movie and only the first released trailer has the song. That was the trailer that I watched on Youtube and got me interested in watching this movie. Imagine my chagrin when I saw that the song does not feature in the movie at all.

Anyway let’s get to the film – underachieving MIT graduate Matt (Topher Grace) is working in a movie store but lies to his former schoolmate & his secret crush Tori Fredreking (Teresa Palmer) when she comes into the store and asks where he works at – he says Goldman Sachs. He acts all aloof & casual, even pretending that he didn’t recognize her when she approaches him. Tori then invites him to a Labor Day weekend party held by Kyle Masterson (Chris Pratt) who also happens to be Matt’s twin sister Wendy’s (Anna Faris) boyfriend. Matt agrees and then ecstatically runs to get his sister Wendy & his best friend Barry (Dan Folger) to join him. Barry meanwhile just got fired from his car salesman job.

At dinner Matt gets a dressing down from his LAPD policeman father (Michael Beihn) about wasting him instead of getting a good career. The 3 then go to the party but not before stealing a red convertible Mercedes-Benz from Barry’s former employer’s showroom in an act of retribution for Barry getting fired. One of the hilarious scene is Barry snorting coke and then getting involved in a dance off with another guy. Kyle then proposes to Wendy in front of the crowd gathered for the dance off. Matt is displeased with Wendy’s acceptance of the proposal and pulls her aside, where they argue that Kyle isn’t going to be a good husband to her and that he will not support her in her endeavors. She stands up for Kyle, but seemingly begins processing Matt’s opinion as Matt walks out in frustration.

Tori & Matt chat at the party and soon she invites him to go to a business party filled with bankers in Beverly Hills. Barry & Matt go in the Merc to the place. At the party, Tori reveals to Matt that she hates her job. Matt and Tori leave the party, enter the backyard of a neighbor’s home, and jump on a trampoline where they play truth or dare. When they get too far, Matt ends up sleeping with her. Then, Matt tells Tori the truth about his job, causing Tori to become upset and leave. Matt tries to convince her that he is sorry for lying but she leaves with her friends. A strange bathroom scene happens; Barry gets to make out with a hot babe (Angie Everhart) while being watched by her psycho friend. Back at Kyle’s party, Wendy is scared to open a letter of admissions, after applying for graduate school in England at the University of Cambridge. Kyle opens the letter for her, and tells her that she has been rejected – he is obviously relieved and Wendy takes offense at this. She realizes that Matt was right about Kyle and breaks up with him.

Meanwhile, Barry & Matt while driving by gets run off the road and is caught by a police car in which Matt’s father is. His partner and him rag the two boys for a while, scaring them but then letting them go in good natured fun. Matt’s father tells Matt to take a chance in life. Matt approaches Tori to apologize and says that he will make up for lying to her. He then takes up the challenge to ride the ball – a huge metal ball which is pushed downhill on a winding road. Despite Barry & Wendy trying to dissuade him, Matt gets in. as Kyle releases the ball it begins to roll down the hill hitting vehicles parked along the street as it zig-zags uncontrollably down the street. Eventually, the ball goes off the road and begins a tumble down an embankment… Matt throws-up in the spinning ball before finally crashing through a residential fence and landing in a swimming pool. Matt nearly drowns at the bottom of the pool — as he is seemingly locked in the steel ball — but manages to get the hatch open in time to swim to the surface. In the end he is cheered by the crowd and Tori takes a step towards forgiving him by giving him her number. As the rest of the people leave, Matt takes Barry & Wendy to a well deserved breakfast – the night has passed and it is morning!

It’s an ok movie, all events takes place through a day. There were some parts of it which served no purpose at all for the movie and I think they could have done a lot better with the film. It wasn’t what I expected at all. Still it’s non-brain taxing harmless fun. Michelle Trachtenberg, (how I love her) is in it as a goth girl who goes for Barry, for a few minutes. I’d give this movie a 6 outta 10!

The long ride home from work is tiring, hot & sweaty unless it is raining or breezy. I usually use the ride home to collect my thoughts and assess the day that had just passed and think about what’s in store for the next work day. If I am not too tired, I might stop by at a cafe for a sandwich & a coffee. If possible I try to meet friends for drinks or coffee. Or if I am tired I might come home straight and only stop at the corner shop near the apartment for a lemonade and small bites – like a samossa or an egg puff. I usually get some good conversation for free.

Once I reach home take the elevator to my 7th floor apartment and remove my shoes and place them at the shoe stand that we keep just outside the door. I come in and go to my room and take off my socks, pants, shirt and underwear and then change into my lungi! Yes folks, I go commando at home but the lungi is perfect to cover up and is very decent. I go the the bathroom, attend the call of nature, wash my feet, hands & face and then dry my hands on a towel. I then switch on the laptop and get online. Youtube is one of my fav destinations online and I watch comedy shows and lots of music performances on it. I ofcourse blog and then there’s other people’s blogs and ofcourse Twitter & Facebook. Who has time for tv?

After a while it will be time for dinner and then back to the net. Sometimes I try to catch a football games during the weekends but usually the internet is my only solace. By 11 I watch a movie or tv series episodes on my laptop until sleep catches up with me and then it’s zzzzzzzz.